Synopsis:Have people from various ethnic origins cook traditional foods, and then charge the public admission to the international dinner.

Place: This can be held at a large church fellowship hall, community events center, expo center, hotel ballroom or other large building that would give you a reduced rate or let you use it for free. If you pick a weeknight, you will probably have better luck, too, with both the free building and with the chefs.

What types of food to offer: Snack sized portions or small trays of main courses, sides and desserts. You want it to be just a sampling to whet their appetites and give a good taste without filling them up. They’ll have LOTS of foods to try that night. Some ethnic foods include–German, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Morrocan, Mexican, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Irish, Italian, French, Polynesian, Australian, and you can do regional favorites, too, if you want to include American. Some major chain restaurants include Outback, Bennigan’s, El Chico, Olive Garden, Tia’s Tex-Mex, a pizzeria, various chinese food restaurants, japanese steak houses, classy french restaurants… Limit the restaurant to two or three options at their booth with multiple servers to keep things moving quickly.

Who’s cooking: Restaurants and Caterers! Invite ethnic group clubs to share some of their favorites. Talk with local ethnic food restaurants about providing samples of their food as an advertisement for their business. They will be able to have menus, brochures and biz cards on hand to advertise their business. It would be a great honor to be awarded BEST ethnic food in town, above all your competitors!

How much to charge: Depending on how many people will be present and how many restaurants you think you’ll be able to get, admission can be between $8 per person up to $15 or $20. More vendors and more food can demand a higher ticket price. If you have a higher admission, you may want to include a free ticket for a raffle item. The ticket price should cover the cost of the room, tables and chairs, event insurance, and still make some money for your group. Restaurants will provide their food for free as an advertisement for their restaurant or club. Tickets can be sold in advance to be sure you have a basic head count for the restaurants to guess from. Use a slightly higher ticket price at the door the day of the event.

Advertising: Place fliers around town for the event, particularly at the restaurant locations who will be participating! Have radio stations help sponsor the event, and do a live remote from the event. Mention in newspapers that this will be a WILD night full of food and sharing. It’s a multicultural event, just like all the breeds of dogs that you’re rescuing (or something similar for other rescues). Every restaurant that is participating will want to advertise at their restaurant for the BIG event, so their regular clients will want to attend. Ethnic groups will advertise in their newsletters and at their meetings to encourage participation.

Twist1: Make it a show-down event where people or judges can vote on the best ethnic food in town. If people vote, you can put jars in a centralized location at the event for people to vote with $1 bills. Money raised goes to your group or to offset the cost of a trophy/ plaque awarded to the winners. The plaque will have the group’s name put on it for that year, and then it will move to another winner next year. This ‘bragging rights’ type of award can become highly coveted in your town!

Twist2: Include a raffle for some cooking baskets, with items donated by Tupperware, Pampered chef and other home party consultants. A few gift certificates to some well-known ethnic restaurants in town could also be raffled off or used as door prizes. Ask a local chef to provide a personal party for 8 as a raffle item, or host a cooking class in the winner’s home to teach the winner a few cooking secrets.

Twist3: Include on the event brochure a ‘passport’ where people can keep track of the various offerings that they’ve tried at different booths. Have all the restaurants listed along with blank lines under their names to write down what dishes you tried and how you liked them.

Twist4: If you want a vegan/ vegetarian alternative, ask the caterers/ restaurants to provide an amazing ethnic dish that is vegetarian friendly! Many ethnic dishes are naturally vegetarian, such as spaghetti w marinara sauce, fried rice, pad thai noodles, knish, strudel… People will realize that there are some amazing dishes that happen to be vegetarian, too! Or, if you don’t want the WHOLE event to be vegetarian, you can award a plaque for the best vegetarian dish. Either way, it’s a great way to expose the average citizen to some amazing vegetarian menu items.

Piggyback Ideas: Add on a raffle, give out door prizes, gain sponsorships from the Chamber of Commerce, grocery stores, ethnic food markets or local restaurants and TV stations/ media partners. Imprint giveaway items such as a rubber jar opener, spatula, silicone spoon, coasters, or other kitchen items.